1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicular headlamp for a vehicle which changes the direction and range of illumination to thereby change the light-distribution pattern in response to the turning angle of the vehicle, and to a vehicle provided with such a vehicular headlamp.
2. Related Art
It is first noted that as used herein and in the accompanying drawings, the symbols L and R refer to the left side and right side, respectively, as seen by a front-facing driver, and the symbols U and D refer to the upward and downward directions, respectively, as seen from a front-facing driver.
The symbol Zxe2x80x94Z refers to a light axis, and so far as applicable, concurrently represents a reference plane that contains both the light axis and a vehicle-transversely level line crossing the light axis, the symbol HL-HR or HR-HL refers to a horizontal axis horizontal to the light axis Zxe2x80x94Z or a horizontal axis horizontal to a light-distribution axis, and the symbol VU-VD refers to a vertical axis vertical to the light axis Zxe2x80x94Z, or a vertical axis vertical to a light-distribution axis.
This type of vehicular headlamp generally has a light-source bulb, a movable reflector, and a drive means for causing rotation of the movable reflector, the drive means causing rotation of the movable reflector so as to cause a change in the illumination direction from the light-source bulb and the range of illumination thereof. Such a vehicular headlamp is noted, for example, in Japanese Patent Publication No. 5-23216, and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publications No. 8-183385 and No. 11-78675.
In a vehicular headlamp of the past as noted above, all that is done is that part of the light-distribution pattern is changed
It is an object of the present invention to provide a headlamp for a vehicle capable of changing the dispersed light-distribution pattern with respect to a fixed reference pattern, resulting in an improvement in visibility in a curve, and a vehicle provided with such a vehicular headlamp.
The vehicular headlamp may project a low beam, and the light-distribution pattern as well as the fixed reference light pattern may be for the low beam. In this respect, the present invention addresses a vehicular headlamp for a vehicle that can make an effective use of a conventionally unused amount of light to form a dispersed light pattern without changing (decreasing) the amount of light to be used for the reference light pattern for low beam, and a vehicle provided with such a vehicular headlamp.
The present invention provides a vehicular headlamp comprising a reflector comprising a first reflective surface, and a shade region provided with a second reflective surface movable relative to the first reflective surface, and a light-source bulb disposed on a light axis of the first reflective surface.
Accordingly, the above-noted object can be achieved.
An aspect of the present invention is a vehicle provided with a vehicular headlamp, wherein the reflector is divided into two parts to be an upper reflector intersecting a reference plane including the light axis and a vehicle-transversely level line, and a lower reflector positioned below the reference plane, wherein the upper reflector is configured to have the first reflective surface and the shade region, light from the light-source bulb reflected threrefrom being provided to the vehicle as a reference light-distribution pattern, and the lower reflector is configured to have the second reflective surface, light from the light-source bulb reflected therefrom being provided as a dispersed light-distribution pattern relative to the reference light-distribution pattern.
As a result of this configuration, in a vehicle provided with a vehicular headlamp according to the present invention, the lower reflector is caused to rotate with respect to the upper reflector, so that the dispersed light-distribution pattern is changed with respect to the reference light-distribution pattern.
Another aspect of the present invention is a vehicle provided with a vehicular headlamp, wherein the reflector is divided into two parts to be an upper reflector intersecting a reference plane including the light axis and a vehicle-transversely level line, and a lower reflector positioned below the reference plane, with a line region interposed between the upper reflector and the lower reflector, wherein the upper reflector is configured to have the first reflective surface and the shade region, light from the light-source bulb reflected threrefrom being provided to the vehicle as a reference light-distribution pattern for low beam defined with a cut line formed by the line region, and the lower reflector is configured to have the second reflective surface, light from the light-source bulb reflected therefrom being provided as a dispersed light-distribution pattern for low beam relative to the reference light-distribution pattern.
As a result of this configuration, in a vehicle provided with a vehicular headlamp according to the present invention, the lower reflector is caused to rotate with respect to the upper reflector, so that the dispersed light-distribution pattern for low beam is changed with respect to the reference light-distribution pattern for low beam, making use of conventionally unused light.